Millions of dollars worth of goods are transported each day using traditional tractor-trailer truck configurations. Products, mail, produce, and various other cargo items make their way from distribution center hubs to various spoke locations across the country and throughout the world. Vast amounts of resources are exhausted in an effort to make the process as efficient as possible and to most effectively track the progress of cargo. Complex computer programs and processes maintain information about the cargo whereabouts as well as distribution patterns.
Presently, however, there is no effective way for a tractor to communicate with a trailer it is hauling. The communication systems that do exist use traditional wire coupling between the tractor and the trailer for information transfer. This communication configuration is less than desirable for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that the wire coupling was originally designed for simple functionality. Specifically, the wire coupling was designed for functions such as transmitting power to the tail lights and providing signals to the brake lights and blinkers on the trailer. The wire coupling was not designed for complex data transfer in a tractor-trailer system. Because the wire coupling was not intended for complex data transfer, the wires are not adequately protected and occurrences of interference are typical, obscuring the communication in the tractor-trailer environment. Efficiency and performance of tractor-trailer distribution schemes are hindered by the lack of available communication. For instance, where a tractor mistakenly hitches the wrong trailer, there is no effective way to communicate the mistake to the driver and, thus, the wrong cargo is transported, wasting time and fuel and perhaps compromising the quality of the cargo.